Naval-gazing : the popular geopolitics of affect and maritime heritage
The light cruiser HMS Belfast was launched in 1938 as part of a great power struggle between the British, Japanese, and Americans for naval supremacy in the Pacific Ocean. The ship did not make it to the Pacific until much later, however, as the outbreak of war in Europe meant it became embroiled in...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
U.S., University of Arizona Press
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/48522 https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:60824 |
| Summary: | The light cruiser HMS Belfast was launched in 1938 as part of a great power struggle between the British, Japanese, and Americans for naval supremacy in the Pacific Ocean. The ship did not make it to the Pacific until much later, however, as the outbreak of war in Europe meant it became embroiled in battles with the German fleet and in Arctic convoy duty. In 1950 HMS Belfast finally engaged in conflict in the Pacific, only by then the war concerned was not imperial conflict with the Japanese but instead an anticommunist campaign in Korea, part of the global ideological struggle known as the Cold War. After a subsequent period in the Royal Naval Reserve, the ship was docked on the south bank of the Thames, with Tower Bridge as a scenic backdrop, and turned into a floating piece of naval heritage under the ownership of the HMS Belfast Trust. After financial difficulties, it was turned over to the administration of the Imperial War Museums in 1978. As one of the authors (Dittmer) toured the heart of HMS Belfast, he happened upon a traditional museum exhibition, titled HMS Belfast—A Happy Ship, 1938–1962. The exhibit was located just past the mechanism that drew shells from the bowels of the ship to be loaded into the main turrets, but before the torpedo on display toward the stern. The exhibition emphasized the everyday life of sailors on board (and the reputation of HMS Belfast’s sailors as a particularly goodnatured crew) rather than the politics of either World War II or the Korean War. This shift from a narrative of conflict (and politics) to the affect of experience (of past sailors, or of today’s tourists) is something we have documented elsewhere, noting that museums of military heritage attempt to redirect attention from the colonial or imperial impetus that often stands behind their heritage objects by emphasizing the camaraderie and experience of the sailors and soldiers involved (Dittmer and Waterton 2016). In this chapter, we focus on naval heritage and the affordances that are produced through the materiality of ships and other naval objects. In other words, we argue that ships are heritage objects in which visitors’ bodies can be fully encompassed, providing a unique affective opportunity. Therefore, the circulation of tourists’ and other visitors’ bodies through these heritage sites is part of a larger geopolitical assemblage that shapes subjectivities—linking practices of tourism and geopolitics in a close, embodied relation (Lisle 2016). |
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